I received a phone call this morning informing me that I had won $9,000 from the US Government.  Apparently I’m really lucky because I received the same call last Summer, then again this afternoon where the amount had been increased to $10,000! Knowing this was a scam right away each time I like to have a little fun with them.  After all, the telemarketer is probably getting scammed thinking they’re going to get paid based on what they scam out of others.
So the first call this morning-
After hearing all his BS story of how I was “chosen” to receive this grant because I’m such a wonderful person blah blah blah. I asked him why they didn’t just send me a check in the mail? He said it was too much money to send via check in the mail.
Then I told him that the US government doesn’t make phone calls like this- they will send out a letter first and about everything then give me the information to contact them.
He tried to explain himself in his broken English but after awhile I just went on my rampage.  I lectured him on how he should feel bad that he is scamming people that are low income and/or gullible and hoping they’ve hit the jackpot.
I told him that the only people that would believe this scam are either desperate for money or so gullible that they are easily taken advantage of and he should be ashamed to take advantage of people like that.
Not letting him interrupt my rampage I went on and on laying it on thick for a few minutes thinking he may just hang up on me, but he didn’t so when I got tired of talking I hung up.

THEN, Lucky me- I got another call this afternoon! Lo and behold this time I won $10,000! Can you imagine my surprise….  So I took a different approach.  I informed the woman (who once again was speaking broken English with a HEAVY accent) that my husband works for the FBI and could validate this for me.
I could tell how nervous she was as she tried to get off the call as quickly as possible.  But not before I was able to get an address out of her-

1. They get your checking account info from you to “deposit” your money, but instead they take money out.
2. They get your debit card from you saying you have to pay a certain amount (I’ve seen $200-360) before they can release the funds.  
3. They make you put money on a visa green dot card (I’ve never heard of a green dot card but it was mentioned on another site)